The Great Chicago Fire: A Chicago Stories Special Documentary

On October 10, 1871, Chicago awoke to an unrecognizable landscape: where 48 hours earlier there had been a vibrant city, now there was nothing but rubble stretched for miles on end. The Great Chicago Fire: A Chicago Stories Special documentary brings to life this seismic event as never before, using vivid animations, elaborate re-creations, and interviews with historians and the descendants of eyewitnesses.

Documentary Chapters:
00:00 Preview
01:03 Intro
03:18 Chicago's Fatal Flaws
05:47 A City of Haves and Have-Nots
12:23 The Fire Begins
17:08 A Blaze Out of Control
20:16 Chicagoans Fight the Flames
27:55 Fleeing the Flames
32:59 The Aftermath of the Fire
36:41 Investigating the Cause of the Fire
40:48 Rebuilding the City
47:44 The Myth of Mrs. O'Leary

#ChicagoFireWTTW

[kentsmith]

The Chicago fire was horrific, but few people know about the the Peshtigo fire that burned on the same day near Peshtigo, Wisconsin. The Chicago fire is said to have claimed 300-500 lives. The Peshtigo fire burned the town of Peshtigo and the surrounding area and claimed 1500-1800 lives. When it finally burned out it had burned 1.2 million acres and is still the deadliest wildfire in US history. That same day the Great Michigan fire started and burned around 2 million acres, between Lake Michigan and Lake Huron, and I haven't seen a reliable number of the lives lost. The summer of 1871 was very dry for the upper Midwest and fuels were ripe for fire. There are several theories on how these fires started, including lightning and even a meteorite explosion. The Peshtigo and Michigan fires are still the largest wildfires recorded in the lower 48 states.

[amydavis]

I was born in 1962, and I was at least 25 years old before I learned that it **wasn't** "O'Leary's cow" that caused the Chicago fire. I had grown up believing that it was. Just goes to show how long a rumor can be believed and passed down through generations. I'm glad to hear that her family was finally able to exhonorate Catherine, once and for all.

[YTjennifer]

I just clicked on this for something to use for background noise, and I ended up sitting in front of my computer the entire time watching every minute. Very enjoyable and informative.

[axer]

We had a family friend who lived through the fire and he told the story from his view and I thought it was better than any book or video I had seen. He lost friends and also had friends who he thought had died in the fire but ran into them years later. One thing he was positive about is people knew the city was a tender box. Houses built cheaply and yards full of trash. He lived to 104 and talked about the fire every time I saw him.

[stephaniebarrett]

Fact: same night as the Chicago fire was the Peshtigo (Wisconsin) fire. Although the Peshtigo fire claimed more people (around 1500 to the 300 in Chicago) you don’t learn about it because well it’s obvious. Chicago was a major city. Peshtigo fire burned 1.5 million acres compared to the 2, 112 acres the Chicago fire claimed. The Peshtigo fire also totally destroyed the town and the town of Brussels. It cause about $169 million in damages, about the same as Chicago’s fire.

So how many of you also knew about the great Peshtigo Fire and how many didn’t know? Which one was greater? And why is that?

I learned about the Peshtigo fire as I grew up in the city of Menominee, MI ( about 30 minutes north) before I learned of the Chicago fire.

[weaz]

I grew up on a farm. Fresh hay that isn't completely dry will heat up and catch fire. This program did say she had fresh hay in the barn.

[deanb]

I'm a documentary junkie and this is an above average production. Well told story by captivating storytellers. Thank you for this!

[TheIndependentLens]

I dig how the audio of people's statements add the accents rather than just narrating what was written.

[danielmorse]

The kitchen table we have at the farm was saved from the fire. It's one of the last things we have left. The story goes that the family burried the China and such in the back yard. Escape from the city was impossable. My great great drove the horses into the lake. True story. The heat was so intense that they did not think they would survive.

[lisadeklerk]

My great-great grandfather was literally the mayor of Chicago when this fire occurred. It’s weird to see personal family history within these greater historical events.

[dgtwo]

I knew someone who knew someone who was a child in 1871 in Chicago when this happened. I knew my grandfather's first cousin who lived from 1920-2016 and in 2008 during visit to Chicago, she told me about being in 5th grade in 1931, 60 years after the fire. Her teacher was a lady in her 60's at the time who was about 6 or 7 years old in 1871 and this lady told a story of people fleeing the fire and literally walking out into Lake Michigan during the night and her father having her sit up on his shoulders to keep her as dry as possible. I guess what is fun for me about is despite being born in 1969, I knew someone who knew someone who witnessed the fire, just teo degrees of separation.

[kevinquist]

Side story. After the fire. the town of Singapore MI., a lumber town, cut all the wood they had and cut the forest around them, to supply wood for Chicago. That winter, was really bad, and with NO trees left around the town, the wind blew all the sand from the dunes in and buried the town. Town was abandoned after this. NOW semi absorbed into the City of Douglas.

[QuquDeMoss]

At 14:20 they mention the barn being stocked with fresh hay that dray fall. I worked as a hay baller for my aunt to feed her horse. She would always tell me never to stack the hay directly again the barn walls because it could, overtime, heat up and start a fire. I’ve seen hay smoke like fog when wet from rain during a hot summer after been stacked. The density of the hay holds heat. I bet that’s what started the fire.

[margaretmurphy]

I grew up north of Chicago and the fire story and its long term effects were taught in our school. At that time the guilty O'Leary cow was taugh. PBS did a show testing the trail & origin of the fire which was interesting. This documentary is really well done & its good to know the fire was not due to her or her cow. It also was interesting to learn how accomplished she was.

The other terrible fire we learned about was the Our Lady of Angels fire. That happened when I was in Grammer school and because we had the same order of nuns in our school and they knew the Chicago nuns it really hit home. To this day I'm moved by that fire and all the children & nuns who died

[EvetteHeim]

I was born and raised in Chicago and love my city and I am sad for all the people who lost their lives in the fire and I am proud Chicago was rebuilt and risen from the ashes literally....One of the best cities with pretty interesting history

[Jules-fxsc]

Really enjoyed watching this documentary. I am English but my mother was from the O'Leary clan. Some of her family had emigrated to America, some to north east England. Poor Mrs O'Leary, blamed the way she was for so many years afterwards

[spiritthingw]

The loss of life is astounding, and all I keep hearing is they were more concerned with the loss of their fancy buildings. And the blame was not warranted. This was a tragedy in every sense.

[mackpines]

I was fooled in school!
All the textbooks and the teachers said that O’ Learly’s cow was responsible for the Chicago Fire. Can’t believe I had accepted this as the actual cause.
This was an amazing documentary!
I learned so much. And I’ve never even been to Chicago.
Love watching documentaries about major events in American Cities.

[rubengarcia_]

Thank you for posting this! Such an entertaining watch. It’s important that these videos are accessible to the Chicagoland community. Thanks!

[MikeADFirenze]

I love WTTW. The window to the world. I lived in Chicago from 2004 to 2007. I visited the Chicago History Museum and even went through orientation to become a volunteer to teach young students about the great Chicago fire and other historical topics.